Lorenzo unhappy with Rossi battle tactics

Following their nail-biting fight for third position in the Grand Prix of Japan the Championship leader was dissatisfied with the manner in which his Fiat Yamaha team-mate secured the final podium spot.

Fourth position at Motegi has done little to dent Jorge Lorenzo's hopes of securing the 2010 MotoGP World Championship but the Spaniard was left extremely unhappy with the manner in which he missed out on a podium finish to team-mate and current World Champion Valentino Rossi.

Their Japanese battle began at the first turn of the opening lap and as the two remained in close contact throughout the race the fight for third really heated up towards the end of the 24-lap contest, with daring moves and touching fairings the highlights in a tense battle that engrossed everyone watching on. Rossi managed to edge the result and whilst Lorenzo was understandably disappointed at finishing off the podium for only the second time this season, it was the nature in which he did so that left him with a bitter taste in his mouth.

"The show is great for the people to enjoy and the business of motorcycle racing, it's fantastic, but when you are a rider who is on a MotoGP bike which gets up to 300 km/h in the straight and 180-200 km/h in the corners and you are feeling the other rider touch you it's not a great feeling or a good emotion because you know you are putting your life at risk," said Lorenzo in the attached video interview. "The three or four moves I made on Valentino I felt were correct and fair. On the other hand his moves were legal but on the limit, from my point of view. We have seen the way he likes to fight, it happened before with Gibernau, then with Stoner, and now with me. Maybe in the future his rivals will get a little bit mad and we will act like he usually does!"

Lorenzo added: "We are team-mates, I am fighting for the Riders' Championship but we are both fighting for the Teams' and Manufacturers' Championship as well and we have to remember this. I am disappointed to miss the podium of course because I wanted one at Yamaha's home, but this is racing."

The decision to go with the medium front Bridgestone tyre as opposed to the hard option that his rivals opted for was a key factor in his race as well said Lorenzo. "It was obvious after the race that our choice was not the best but we can't change the situation. We made a mistake with the front tyre and I didn't have so much confidence in the front so for this reason it was difficult to overtake Valentino. We also chose the old engine because with the new one we would waste a lot of fuel and would not finish the race."

Lorenzo remains on the verge of sealing his first premier class title and leads the standings by 69 points ahead of injured rival Dani Pedrosa heading into Round 15 of 18 at Sepang next weekend.

"I am very happy at the moment because we are very close to achieving a dream that has been in the making for 20 years. It was nice to get the 250cc World titles but now we are talking about something much bigger. Maybe in Malaysia we can get it and we will then celebrate, and after in Spain," he concluded.

You can watch the fantastic battle between Lorenzo and Rossi once again by clicking here.